My 5 year old rarely plays with toys?

[WanderlustMom]

Hey,

I was hoping to gather a bit of an insight. I’ve noticed that since my son turned 5 he rarely ever plays with toys anymore.

He loves Lego but only if I’m playing / building with him. He’s never been one for independent play. He has every single thing you can think of from WWE set ups, marvel figures, hot wheels cars + tracks etc etc .. he absolutely loved these from 3+ and would spend all of his time playing with toys (although I would still have to play with him).

Now he’s 5 he just seems to have lost interest even when I prompt him. He’d much rather be doing activities outside the home (swimming, softplay, the farm, airhop, arcades/bowling etc) and toys wise, he is is only interested in Lego or some kind of building blocks.

He does have a Nintendo switch that he’s allowed to play for an hour or two on the weekend but not in the week.

It sounds silly to worry about but I feel like every single 5-6 year old around us still play with toys constantly and are very much capable of independent play!

Is anyone else’s 5 year olds the same?

He does also love board games but again, with me. He's never played independently for longer than a few minutes in his life - no siblings yet (baby sis due in a few weeks). How can I ‘teach’ him to play by himself? Or do I just accept that he won’t do this and leave him be? If I’m busy he’ll typically just follow me round the house chatting away to me and attempting () to help me. I don’t mind it, but I guess I just worry that he isn’t as developed and doesn’t have as strong as an imagination like his friends.

Sounds like my 5yo DD. She's very bright but has never been able to self-entertain for any length of time, and it can feel quite demanding when she wants me or her dad to play with her all the time. When she was younger, she'd go through phases of playing with baby dolls, cooking in the toy kitchen and other role play games, but that's about it. She'll ask for Barbies, schleich animals and other stuff that her friends are into, but she's much more into building with magnetic tiles, crafts and boardgames. She's also very physically active so enjoys dance and gymnastics. I don't think it's anything to worry about though, but very different from her sister who will happily potter away with her toys. Different interests and temperaments I guess.